Syrian gov't open to political solution to end prolonged crisis: deputy prime minister

Syria's Deputy Prime Minister Walid al-Moallem reiterated here Saturday his government's commitment to moving forward with the UN-mediated Geneva peace talks to end the five-year-old civil war.

Addressing the high-level debate of UN General Assembly that entered its fifth day, the prime minister said outside intervention fueled the rise of terrorism, and all solutions dictated from the outside are categorically rejected by the Syrian people.

"Everyone knows full well that terrorism would not have spread through my country if it hadn't been for the external support of well- known countries," he said.

Since the onset of the crisis in 2011, the Syrian government has declared that any solution must follow two parallel tracks; counter-terrorism track and a political track through an intra-Syrian dialogue that allows Syrians to determine the future of their country without foreign interference, he said.

"We have always been open to a political track that would stem the bloodshed and end the prolonged suffering of Syrians. We reiterate our commitment to move forward with the Geneva track, under the auspices of the United Nations," he said.

The UN-mediated talks, held between the Syrian government and opposition forces, aims to end the conflicts which have killed over a quarter million people and displaced millions of others.

The first of three scheduled rounds of negotiations yielded 12 points of commonalities between warring factions. The issue of political transition was the major topic for the second round of the talks that was held in April. Endit